Deaebatob



Dec. 27, 1927. 1,654,261

R. c. JONES DEAERATOR Filed Nov. 19. 1926 INVENTOR:

fgusse C. James;

Y Winn 2 71W fdmmdq;

Hi5 ATT RNEYS.

Patented Dec. 27, 1927.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RUSSELL C. JONES, OF BRONXVILLE, NEXV YORK, ASSIGNOR TO THEGRISCOM-RUSSELL COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.,

A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

DEAERA'IOR.

Application filed November 19, 1926.

The present invention relates to deaerating apparatus for steamgenerating systems and has to do with the furnishing of sub stantiallygaslree water to the boilers.

lVater as supplied to a steam generating plant usually containsrelatively large quantities of gases in solution. These various gases,notably oxygen, which are dissolved in the feed water are liberated inthe boilers and other parts of the apparatus under the conditions towhich the water is subjected and react on the metal of the variousapparatus with the result that pitting and corroding occur. It istherefore common practice to subject the boiler feed water to adegassing treatment before the water is admitted to the boilers in orderthat the injurious gases may be removed from solution and expelled fromthe system.

Various types of apparatus for deaeratmg boiler feed water have beenproposed. For instance, it has been proposed to deaerate the water in anapparatus consisting of two chambers through which the water passes inseries relation. The first of these chambers is a heating chamber and inthis chamber the water is heated to a temperature approaching itsboiling point under the pressure conditions maintained in that chamber.The heated water from this chamber is then admitted to the secondchamber where ebul lition occurs either as the result of additionalheating steam admitted to the second chamber or as the result of reducedpressure in the second chamber in which latter case ebullition occurs byreason of the contained heat ot' the liquid. It has also been proposedto deaerate water by dripping it upon a heated surface in which case theliquid is usually sprayed upon a bundle of heating tubes so that theliquid runs over the tube surfaces in the form of a thin lilm and isheated by reason of its contact with the tubes. Deaeration issatisfactorily accomplished if the liquid to be deaerated is heated toits boiling point corresponding to the pressure under which it ismaintained and is then allowed to remain subjected to these conditionsfor a sullicient length of time to permit all of the contained gases toremove themselves from the liquid.

In copending application Serial No. 600,178, filed November 10, 1922, inthe Serial No. 149,328.

name of Joseph Price and assigned to the present assignee, there isdisclosed a donoratmg apparatus which consists of a containing shell inthe bottom of which is maintained a principal body oi the liquid undertreatment. The water to be deaeraled is admitted at-the top of thechamber and "falls over a series o'l bullies until it eventually reachesthe principal liquid body in the lower part of the apparatus. Heatingsteam is preferably admitted by means of a perforated pipe submerged inthe liquid body so that the bubbling of the steam through the liquidwill effect an agitation and will thus assist; in bringing the solutionto equilibrium and consequently in effecting complete removal ofdissolved gases. The present invention is in a sense a development andimproven'ient on the apparatus disclosed in this copending application.

In the present apparatus, the liquid is admitted at the upper portion ofthe unit and falls downwardly through the apparatus over a series ofballles which thoroughly agitate it and distribute it as a rain offalling drops and the liquid eventually accumulates in a principal bodyof liquid in the lower part of the apparatus. Steam is allowed to expandthrough this rain, and would serve, according to the commonly acceptedidea, to sutliciently deaerate the incoming liquid. However, since thisis not actually the case, the present invention contemplates alsoproviding a heating unit consisting of a plurality of heat transferringtubes submerged in the principal liquid body and heating steam is passedthrough these tubes at a relatively high 'elocity. This heating element.causes ebullition ot the liquid body and thus makes for thoroughscrubbing or removal of gases from the I The accompanying drawingsillustrate a preferred embodiment of the invention. in these drawings,

Figure '1 is a sectional view of the apparatus of the present invention;

Figure Zis a modification of the apparatus shown in Figure 1; and

Figure 3 is a still further modification oil the apparatus shown inFigure 1..

Referring now to the drawings more in detail by numeral, 1 indicates thecontaining shell or housing of the deaerator in the lower portion ofwhich a principal body of liquid Q-according to the in'iproved purposeof the invention is normally maintained. The incoming water enters atthe top of the apparatus through the line 8, and a valve 5 in this lineoperated through alinliage 7 by means of a float 6 regulates itorinaii'itaining a substanti ally constant liquid level in the up paratus.The incoming liquid passes, which in the subsistentapparatus is the onlypart ot the i'eed water receiving treatment, down the length of theapparatus over a series of battles 9. Alternate bullies as shown areprovided with central openings and alternate battles are provided withannular passages at their outer edges so that the steam and gases risingthrough the apparatus assume a tortuous path as indicated. generally bythe arrows and are thus brmight into repeated and intimate contact withthe liquid spray descending through the apparatus. Theuncondei'isablegases are drawn out oi the apparatus through the vent ordischarge line 11. lVithdrawal of these gases is pret- "erably effectedby means of a steam ejector 12 connected to the line 11 as shown.De-aerated water may be conducted oil through the line 13 provided nearthe bottom ot the shell 1.

According to the present invention in order to preclude any possibilityof there being any gases left in the teed water, there is subu'ierged inthe principal body of liquid in the lower pOltlOI]. ot the apparatus ahaul: of heating tubes 14. These tubes preferably extend between rigidlyspaced headers 15 as shown and may be slightly bowed so that bysubjection to a'material change in temperature, the tubes will lien andwill thus loosen and crack oil deposits of scale which correspondinglyhigh efficiency of heat transfer.

The steam passing the heat transferring tubes le uncondensed enters line17, from whence it is passed into the interior of the deaerating chamberthrough the medium of the orifice plate 18. The size of the orifice inthe plate 18 so chosen as to maintain a slight pressure dii'l'erencebetween the steam within the tubes i l and that within the dcacratorshell 1. This pressure differential may be from, say, one tolive poundsper square inch. In this fashion a slight temperature dilli'eif'ence isnmintained between the steam within the heating tubes 1.4. and the waterin the shell which dilii'erencc is suliicient to insure cbullition otthe liquid body in. the shell with the re ult that cll'cctivc scrubbingor mechanical removal of liberated air from the water in the bottom oil?the shell is accomplished. The steam cntering the deaerating chamberthrough the orilice plate 18 comes inuncdiately into diect contact withthe incoming water flowing down over the battle plates 9.

The present invention also contemplates causing the steam passingthrough the submerged heating element M uncondensed, to flow into aperforated pipe 26, also located beneath. the liquid level in thedeaerating chamber, and connected to the discl'large header by a byiiass529, and coi'itrollcd by a valve 30 A'brai'ich line 27 taps into thebypassQS), as shown in Figure 1., and leads into the dcaerating chamberabove the liquid level therein, so that all, or any predetermined part,of the steam passing the heating elenient l-l uncondensed, may beconducted directly into the deaerating chamber above theliquid level.

Ordinarily, all. of the steam is passed through the tubes 14. and theninto the dcaerating chamber through the orifice plate 18 GXCGPtlDg, ofcourse, that portion of the steam which is condensed and is withdrawnthrough the trap 16. Under ct. "ain (JllClHl'I- stances it may, however,be desirable to admit a certain amount 0t steam directly to thedeacrating chamber without first caus log it to traverse the heatingtubes ll. l ith this situation the valve .30 in steam line .19 is openedto a certain extent and a desired an'iount ot steam admitted directlyinto the deaeratii chamber, while at the same time a desired portion oithe steam pas. is down through the line 21 and enters the submergedheating element .lel utter which. the uncondensed ')ortion ot the steamfinds its way through line 17 and. orifice plate 18 into the deaeratingchan'iber 1. The valve 20 is a pressure reducing valve designed tomaintain in the deaerating cham her a pressure corresponding to that towhich the orilice plate 18 is intended to regulate. The pressure in thedeaerator should. be slightly below that in the heating tubes l l forthe purpose o1. insuring the tempera Ill] iLlU

ture differential desirable in maintaining a continuous and satisfactoryebullition of the liquid body 2.

In Figure 3 there is illustrated an automatic valve 523 for maintainingasubstantially constantpressure and temperature differential between thesubmerged heating element and the deaerating chamber. The 'alve hereshown is a diaphragm valve having lines 2% and 25 comnmnicati'ngrespectively with the pressure in the deaerating chamber and thepressure in the submerged heating element so that the valve willregulate for constant pressure differential with the result that asubstantially constant tem perature differential will also bemaintained.

For the purpose of affording an ellieientheat transfer a high velocityof steam within the heating tubes 14 is desirable. This effect may beenhanced if desired by the provision of a multi-pass heating unit of thetype shown in Figure 3. In this figure a two-pass unit is shown, and thesteam is caused to travel the length of the unit two times at relativelyhigh velocity before it is passed along to the line 17 and orifice plate18. In this figure. the heating element is built within the d-eaeratingchamber and is provided with stay rods 22 for the purpose of rigidlyspacing the tube sheets so that llexure ot' the tubes to produce a scalecracking action can be obtained. It is to be understood that thisinternal type of heating element construetion may be employed eitherwith a single pass or a multi-pass unit.

The present invention is eminently advantageous in certain instanceswhere it is desired to secure a particularly effective agitation of thebody of liquid in this dcaerator. The passing of the additional amountof steam into the liquid body through the perforated pipe 26 produces anunusual and uneXpect-edly great amount of additional agi tation of theliquid, with a resultant increased efficiency of scrubbing anddeaerating.

The present application is in part a divisional application of theeopending application of R. C. Jones, filed September 2, 1925, Ser. No.54,583.

I claim:

1. Deaera-ting apparatus comprising a contaming shell, means fornormally maintaining a body of liquid in the lower portion of the shell,means for admitting liquid to be treated above the liquid body in saidshell, a heating element submerged in the liquid within said shell,means for supplying heating steam to said element, a perforated pipesubmerged in the said body of liquid and means for passing steam issuingfrom said submerged heating element uncondensed into said perforatedpipe.

2. Deaerating apparatus comprising a containing shell, means fornormally maintaining a. body of liquid in the lower portion of theshell, means for admitting liquid to'be treated above the liquid body insaid shell, a heating element submerged in the liquid within said shell,means for supplying heat ing steam to said element, a perforated pipesubmerged in the said body of liquid, means for passing steam issuingfrom said submerged heating element uncondensed into said perforatedpipe, and means for passing a portion of the steam issuing from saidsubmerged heating element into the deaerating chamber above the liquidlevel therein. i

3. Deaerating apparatus comprising a containing shell, means fornormally mainlaining a body of liquid in the lower portion of the shell,means for admitting liquid to be treated above the liquid body in saidshell, a heating element submerged in the liquid within said shell,means for supplying heating steam to said element, a perforated pipesubmerged in the said body of liquid. means for passing steam issuingfrom said submerged heating element uncondensed into said perforatedpipe, and means for passing a portion of the steam issuing from saidsubmerged heating element into the deaerating chamber above the liquidlevel therein, comprising a valve interposed between the discharge endof said submerged heating element and the interior of said containingshell, said valve being actuated according to the pressure differentialbetween said heating element and said shell.

In testimony whereof I atlix my signature.

RUSSELL o. JONES.

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